Speaking the Void: The Problem of Language and Communication in Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker Gabriela Běhounková College

The word ‘absurd’ is derived from the Latin ‘absurdus,’ which consists of the prefix ‘ab’ denoting ‘from,’ and the stem ‘surdus’ meaning ‘deaf.’ ‘Deaf’ can be further interpreted as ‘unable to hear’ or, by implication, ‘unwilling to listen’. [1] Considering both interpretations, a deaf person is one who is unable to continue in a verbal conversation coherently. Communication in absurdist fiction reflects this fact: the dialogues are frequently disrupted by silence, the utterances are full of phrases void of meaning, and the individual lines don’t follow each other logically. As a result, the speakers neither reach any substantial conclusion nor establish a genuine relationship. The majority of the dramatists who took part in the Theatre of the Absurd movement employ scattered communication in their plays in order to manifest that conventional language, being an inadequate means of communication, has failed its purpose.

However, Harold Pinter, a prominent representative of this movement, holds a different view on language and communication; what he criticizes is not the system itself (or its assumed inadequacy), but the speakers who use it, respectively the way they use it. The characters of his plays typically speak evasively...